Be Christ Jesus, share the same mind and heart, because you share the same name.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Name of Jesus
Texts: Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 2:15-21
Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
My parents disagreed about whom I was named for.
One said it was for the husband of Mary. The other – and I never remember which said which – said I was named for the son of Jacob. I wasn’t happy with the ambiguity.
But as an adult I realized I was deeply drawn to a third Joseph, the man from Arimathea, who takes the body of Jesus and, with the help of Nicodemus, buries Christ in his own tomb. So awhile ago I decided Joseph of Arimathea was the saint whose name I carried.
Names matter. Maybe you carry the name of your parent or grandparent. Maybe your parent gave you a biblical name, or a famous one. Maybe you even identify with that person for whom you are named. But they do matter.
Today we celebrate an important day for Jesus.
On the eighth day of his life he was circumcised, according to the law. On this day he joined the covenant of Israel, was bound in his own blood to the covenant promise God made with the chosen people. This is very like our baptism, where we are joined in water and the Spirit to the covenant promise of God in Christ.
And it was also the day he got his name. Jesus, in Greek. Yeshua in Aramaic. He was named after the successor to Moses, Joshua. “I-Am-Who-I-Am saves” is what the name means. A powerful name for the One who is God-with-us, the One who actually will bring about the healing and salvation of all things.
But lots of little boys got that name. It was and is a pretty popular biblical name. For this little baby, the name was important, but it was only a sign of something greater. And that something is the most important thing.
That’s Paul’s point to the Philippians.
He says that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. It’s why many here bow their heads every time the name of Jesus is spoken in liturgy.
But it’s not Paul’s main point. The name Jesus carries – “I-Am-Who-I-Am saves” – is a sign pointing to who Jesus actually is, what Jesus will actually do, that Jesus is God-with-us, the salvation of the Triune God in this world.
It’s not the name itself that matters. It’s how Jesus lives into this name.
And today Paul invites you to live into the name Jesus.
To become part of God’s saving. “Let the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus,” Paul says. Become like Jesus, the eternal Son of God, one of the Three in the Trinity, who let go of it all to become human among us, to lead us back into the arms of God, into the dance of the Trinity, into the love that holds the universe together.
Have the same mind as that, Paul says, the same mind as Christ. The same heart as Christ. The same self-giving love as Christ. The same life as Christ. That’s Paul’s invitation on this day.
To take the path this child walked, a path that was signaled by this name.
Be who you are named after. That’s the call.
It’s why I chose Joseph of Arimathea. What drew me to him was that he was a person of privilege, wealthy by the world’s standards, who kept his faith private, to himself. But he learned he needed to become open in his life about his faith. So he risked exposure and ostracism from his peers to openly declare his allegiance to this Jesus of Nazareth, and offered his own place of burial for him.
I need to be challenged to risk my privilege and what I have to step out publicly and be the love of God in the world. And so Joseph points me to Paul, who says, “have the same mind and heart as Christ.”
Bowing your head when the name of Jesus is spoken is a holy and good devotion.
But living your life as Christ is far more what Paul hopes you’ll take from his words.
In the end, the reason the angels told Mary and Joseph to name him Yeshua, “I-Am-Who-I-Am saves,” is because this child was God and would save all things.
But that’s why you bear the name of Christ Jesus, too. Because through you, and me, and all who bear this name, this heart and life of the Triune God, God will bring healing and life to all things. It’s what you were named to be.
In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
